Even Angels Fall
by Captain Swan-Clace-Percabeth
Summary: This is just an idea inspired by the beginning of CoFA when Clary and Jace are training and they do the flips. Just some cute Clace fluff in commemoration of the day we have all been waiting for... CITY OF HEAVENLY FIRE COMES OUT TODAY! AHHHH! So excited! Rated T for suggestive themes and mild Clace action. Flames welcome.


**AN: CITY OF HEAVENLY FIRE COMES OUT TODAY! AHHHH! So excited! But I am in the middle of my exams so I can't read it for another 10 days...no spoilers please! Set after CoHF so any assumptions about the book are false. T for mild Clace action. Basically just some cute fluffiness for the day! Enjoy and review, please, they make me so happy!**

**Disclaimer: Do not own TMI or characters or the base idea for this scene. That is all Cassandra Clare**

Clary stood on the training beam and glared at the floor, some 30 metres below her. She tugged anxiously on the flexible rope around her waist

Jace walked through the door and his eyes swept the room, searching for her. Eventually, he looked up and frowned. "I thought you were going to practise flips?"

Clary made a face, "Can I not?"

Jace smiled slightly and shook his head. He crossed his arms and looked up at her expectantly. He waited for a few moments before speaking, "Come on, Clary, you did insist on the rope. It stops you from falling. You can't get hurt."

Clary just stared apprehensively at the floor. Jace sighed, "I promise."

Finally, Clary looked at him and she almost melted at the soft look in his molten pools of gold. But after a long time of practice, Clary resisted and sat up straight. She squared her shoulders and shouted her denial down at Jace.

Clary knew that she was acting like a petulant child but she really didn't care at this point. Jace had seen her worse than this, and she knew that he secretly liked it when she was stubborn.

Jace huffed again and shook his head at the floor, trying to hide his smile. He looked up with a mischievous look in his eyes. "Ok, so if you don't want to come down here, then I guess I'm just going to have to come up there and make you..."

Before Clary could react, Jace had couched low before springing up through the air and grabbing onto the beam across from hers with one arm. He grinned at her and swung himself up. Clary just gaped at him as he flipped through the air onto Clary's beam.

Clary opened her mouth and closed it several times, trying to find words, but she came up blank. She really shouldn't have been surprised, after all that Jace had done in the Final Battle, but she couldn't help it if her amazing boyfriend had just jumped 30 metres into the air and flipped across the 10 metre space between them as if it was nothing.

'But - I - you -" Clary stuttered.

Jace rolled his eyes at her antics and pressed his lips against hers softy, effectively cutting off whatever words she could have come up with. She pressed herself closer to him and fisted her hands in his shirt. Jace wrapped his arms around her waist as Clary slid her hands up his chest to tangle in the fine hair that curled at his neck. Clary could almost imagine that she was in the greenhouse again, where they kissed for the first time, and not 30 metres up in the air where they could potentially fall to their deaths, after everything else that had been done to tear them apart. Well, maybe not her, she had the rope tied around her waist.

Jace pulled away with a sigh but kept himself pressed against her, looking into her eyes and his thumb brushed her cheek. Clary kept her eyes closed.

"Come on, Clary," Jace whispered softly to her. "Would I let anything hurt you?"

Clary's eyes fluttered open and Jace almost found himself lost in the vibrant green that he often found was his safe-haven.

Clary took a deep breath and nodded. She let go of Jace and peered to the side of the beam.

Jace raises his hands slightly, as if to steady her, but Clary bats them away and takes a deep breath. She shuts her eyes tight and jumps.

Clary spins through the air, twirling and flipping over and over. As she falls, Clary finds a sense of peace in the air just before the rope pulls taunt and she springs back up and down again. She bounces for a minute before coming to a rest about 5 meters from the ground.

Jace slides down the rope and hangs above Clary, teasing. Clary glares up at him and right before he cuts the rope, her eyes widen and she gasps, the sound lost in her mouth as she drops to the mats. Jace lands on his feet next to her and grins down at her.

Clary glares back up at him and sweeps her foot out behind his leg so that he collapses next to her. Jace lands with a sharp groan and rolls over so that he is practically on top of her. Clary's face flushes a pale pink at the thought of their position on the floor. They lie there gasping for breath for a moment.

"Well. That wasn't as bad as usual," Clary admits.

"Oh, come on, you loved it," Jace says with a glint in his eye. Clary hesitated.

He raises his eyebrows until starts to tickle her. Clary squeals and squirms. Clary feels her back press against the mats but Jace doesn't stop as he tickles her mercilessly until she concedes.

"OK, OK!," Jace stops momentarily and gives her stern look, hands raised to tickle her again. "I give up. I loved it, it was fun!"

Jace grins widely.

Just as Jace ducks his head to kiss her, Alec kicks down the front door and he runs in seraph blade raised. When he sees Jace and Clark lying on top of each other, he visibly relaxes and flushes pink. Before any one of them could say anything, Isabelle enters with a knife loosely clutched in her hand. She observes the entwined couple on the mats.

"Canoodling, I see," Isabelle comments snidely as her eyes sweep the room, "Yet again."

Clary blushes and wiggles under Jace to get him to release her. Jace flips them over so that he is lying on the ground and then sits up so that Clary is sitting on his lap. She blushes profusely but doesn't protest.

Alec flushes slightly and inches towards the exit. "I'll just - umm - go -"

"What's that on your cheek, Alec, brother dearest?" Jace asks with a raise of his eyebrow.

Alec's hand flies up and touches the smear of bright purple lipstick on his left cheek. "Nothing..." Alec mutters as he rubs the mark vigorously and walks out the door. "Damn you, Magnus, I told you not to wear the- ". His muttered curses cut off as he marches quickly out the door, still rubbing his cheek, although all remnants of lipstick are long gone.

Isabelle leans casually against the door and examines her no-doubt impeccable nails, humming under her breath.

Jace drums his fingers on Clary's leg before snapping impatiently, "Well, if you're about done fixing your broken nails from that viscous fight, I suggest you leave. Clary and I have better things to do."

Isabelle raise her eyebrows, still suspecting her nails, and mutters, "Oh, I can see that," which causes Clary to blush an even darker shade of red, while Jace pays no attention to the suggestive comment.

Isabelle stands up all of a sudden and marches to the door with a roll of her eyes and a flick of her long, black hair. Just before she leaves she turns back around and says, "Just in case you two plan on continuing your little 'training session'," Isabelle uses her fingers to make little air quotes on the word 'training session', "you might want to move to another room that's not quite as ... Public. Mom's getting a little suspicious as to why you guys have been spending so much time in here. Together... Anyway, I suggest Jace's room, or really, just anyone's bedroom. Make sure to clean the sheets!"

Isabelle turns away and leaves with a quick yell, "Use protection, love you, bye!"

Clary groans and leans her head back against Jace's shoulder. Her face is still bright red, while Jace seems unaffected by his sister's comments on their physical relationship.

"Gods, could that **_be_** any more embarrassing?" Clary moans as she covers her face with her hands.

"Knowing Isabelle... yes."

Clary gives Jace a little shove as she pulls herself up to stand. Jace protests as her warm body is replaced by the frosty November air. Clary shivers a little in the drafty room and rubs her hands along her arms.

Jace stands and pulls her into a hug, pressing his warm body against hers. They stand like that for a minute. No words are spoken and none are needed. not with them, not anymore. They are more than just content to be silent and relish in the other's presence.

Reluctantly, Clary pulls away first and gazes into the eyes of the boy she fell in love with. She sighs, knowing that what she is going to say will break the peaceful mood that had settled over them, but also knowing that the words need to be said.

"I should go get changed. My mom will be getting worried; I'm supposed to be having dinner with her and Luke tonight."

Jace just holds her tighter before letting her go reluctantly, always reluctantly. Clary takes a few backwards steps away from Jace and just before she disappears to go into the changing rooms, Jace calls out to her.

She turns around, her hair whipping around her face and coming to rest on one shoulder. Jace allows himself to study her face for a moment. Her pale freckled complexion, her still slightly flushed cheeks, her rosy lips and finally, her vibrant green eyes that glow whenever they come to rest on him.

Jace walks forwards until he is close enough to wrap one arm around her waist, tugging her forward. Clary falls into him and gazes up at him with those beautiful eyes.

Jace cups her face in one hand and strokes her cheekbone lightly with one of his fingertips. He leans down to press his lips against hers, just once. He rests his forehead against hers and they gaze into each other's eyes.

"You did well, today," Jace whispers, his breath stirring the tendrils of hair framing her face, "and coming down from those beams ... Wow. You truly are beautiful, like a falling angel."

Surprisingly, Clary doesn't feel the blood spread across her cheeks; she never has to feel embarrassed with Jace, not anymore. She just presses her lips against his once more and then turns to go through the door into the changing room.

As she walks away, Jace thinks to himself: yes, even angels fall.


End file.
